On June 25, 2013, City Council conducted a study session on oil and gas issues for the purpose of discussing and reviewing best management practices that are protective of public health and safety at well sites. The issues discussed were derived from concerns of City Council and from citizens at the Town Hall meeting. Information was provided concerning the general categories of water quality, air quality, disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals, emergency response plans, local inspections, setbacks, road impacts, and site mitigation issues concerning light, noise, and buffering. The existing state and federal regulatory framework for these issue areas and potential local regulations based upon examples of best management practices were included in the study session memo. City Council gave staff direction to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with Sovereign Operating Company, LLC, which has oil and gas permit applications currently pending before City Council. Additionally, City Council asked staff to develop draft regulations amending the City’s current oil and gas regulations to include more best management practices.Agenda memorandum for June 25, 2013 Study Session

As a follow-up to the May 22, 2013 town hall meeting at which residents shared their concerns regarding oil and gas well development in Broomfield, the City Council discussed, at it's June 4, 2013 Study Session, a process to review and address the issues regarding oil and gas well development identified by Broomfield residents. City Councilmembers have expressed an interest in looking at Broomfield's current regulations to determine if there are areas where updates are necessary to address public safety issues.

The purpose of this study session is to review and discuss with staff and technical experts in the area of oil and gas well development, potential measures to address the concerns identified by residents at the town hall meeting and through additional communications.

Written material previously reviewed by the City Council regarding this matter, video of the town hall meeting, and other available resources on this subject can be found below.

Based on this prior work, this study session has been structured to review Broomfield's oil and gas regulations to determine if public health and safety concerns identified by residents require an update of those regulations to address best management practices and any gaps in regulation that the city should address through regulations and/or Memorandums of Understanding with operators.

To assist City Council and staff in considering best management practices and the parameter of state and federal oil and gas operations regulations, experts have been invited to attend the study session to answer City Council's questions.

Generally, the format for the study session will be:

Staff will review, by topic area, best practices for mitigation.

The experts will be available to answer questions and provide additional information as needed.

Councilmembers will be asked to express preferences regarding the best practices in the interest of starting the content of an MOU and potential regulation modifications.

Although the public is welcome to attend, Council does not take public comment during study sessions.

The Broomfield City Council held a study session Tuesday night, June 4, 2013 to discuss the feedback it received from a May 22 town hall meeting on Oil & Gas development. Council stated that since they were already postponing the consideration of requests from oil and gas applicants in order to re-examine the city's policies, at this point a moratorium was not necessary. Council members did agree that they need to update current oil and gas policies. This includes reviewing the current permitting process, as well as addressing citizens’ concerns and explore ways to work with oil and gas drilling applicants to ensure heightened safety standards are met. The next step in the process will be at a future study session where council will begin the discussion to establish specific activities to achieve this.

In future meetings, the council will consider several options for future Oil & Gas drilling agreements & permitting processes. In developing these options the council will consider:

Hiring an independent oil and gas consultant to provide context and guidance on issues such as industry standards, upcoming regulatory changes, and the finer points of the drilling process.

Hiring an independent inspector to examine Broomfield's 97 producing oil and gas wells on a more regular basis and to monitor any future drilling operations as they occur.

Discuss and draft components of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with future oil and gas drilling operators; MOUs would aim to hold oil and gas companies to safety and regulatory standards that would be higher than the standards already in place in the state. In return, oil and gas companies might get incentives such as an expedited permitting process.

Establish regulations that incorporate best practices, new technologies and future enhanced regulatory mandates from the state and federal government.

On April 16, 2013, City Council conducted a Study Session focused on the existing regulatory framework around oil and gas development. The Study Session included presentations from the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado Municipal League, and Boulder County. See the current Broomfield's oil and gas land use regulations; Chapter 17-54 and Chapter 17-56.

The Broomfield City Council hosted a town hall meeting on May 22, 2013 to better understand the needs and concerns of Broomfield residents regarding oil and gas production and to inform future council policy decision-making. Broomfield residents presented a variety of perspectives regarding oil and gas well production, some expressed demands for a moratorium on new wells until more information is obtained and others support oil and gas production. View a summary of the issues compiled by CDR Associates, who provided the facilitation services at the town hall meeting.Resident CommentsDuring the town hall meeting, residents provided a wide-range of written comments (verbatim) and emails that have been received so far.